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In the Wild

Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit serves critical role in state's understanding and management of wildlife populations

Volume 14 | Number 3 | May/June 2013

By Steve Kiggins

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A hunter slinks through the woods, clutching his rifle, darting his eyes. He’s careful not to make a sound, for hours, sometimes even days, as he
stalks his big-game prey.

It’s a scene that plays out countless times every year in the sportsmen’s
paradise known as Wyoming, a place
where the many herds of ungulates outnumber the humans in the least populated of the 50 states.

“What they learn about
the animals’ migratory
behaviors and their winter
survival rates is what we
utilize in developing the
state’s hunting season recommendations each year,” says Tom
Ryder, assistant division chief of wildlife
for the Wyoming Game and Fish
Department, the state agency responsible
for managing wildlife and providing
wildlife-related recreation. “Without the
Coop Unit, we may not be able to offer
as many opportunities to sportsmen.”

Hunters aren’t the only beneficiaries.
The Coop Unit’s applied research allows
the state to better understand, manage
and conserve animal populations,
increasing the odds that folks who travel
from across the world will spot a moose
during their visit, and other research
findings assist in identifying key
ungulate migration corridors that otherwise could be threatened by energy or
rural development and other land uses.

“Energy is a very important driver
of our economy—and everybody
knows that. But tourism is No. 2,” says
Kauffman, leader of the Coop Unit, which is housed in the University of
Wyoming’s Zoology and Physiology Department. “The prosperity of our wildlife is
critical to maintaining the wildness of Wyoming’s landscape.”

Since its founding in 1980, the Coop Unit has worked collaboratively with the
Wyoming Game and Fish Department on various projects designed to provide useful
information for fish and wildlife
managers. The unit also partners with other state and federal resource management agencies as well as non-governmental organizations. The Coop Unit,
whose faculty is employed by the U.S. Geological Survey, also plays a primary role in mentoring UW graduate students for careers in fish and wildlife
management.

The current Coop Unit also includes Annika Walters, assistant unit leader for
fisheries, and Anna Chalfoun, assistant unit leader for wildlife.

“We play a unique role in Wyoming, because we have a close relationship with a
state agency that doesn’t have its own research branch,” Kauffman says. “We don’t have to publish a paper,
cross our fingers and hope that the people who need that information will find
it. As soon as we find out something useful, we can hand it right to the
manager who is going to use it.

“That,” he adds, “is one of my favorite parts about this job.”

The Wyoming Atlas of Wildlife Migration is the Coop Unit’s newest project, a
four-year initiative launched in July 2012 that will draw attention to Wyoming’s migratory ungulates and advance the state’s conservation and
management efforts. Kauffman envisions the atlas will be a resource for
wildlifeminded citizens, sportsmen and state and federal biologists interested in better management of migratory ungulates.

It’ll also be the latest in a string of pivotal research efforts over the past
three decades that have helped the state further its understanding of the
animals that, in some places, might represent a Wyoming family’s closest
neighbor.

“There’s just no question that the research activity of the Coop Unit has been
invaluable to the Game and Fish Department’s efforts to learn more about the
life and the ecology of our wildlife,” says Ryder, who earned his bachelor’s and master’s
degrees at UW in the 1980s. “We really value our partnership with the Coop Unit
and the university. The work they do really has value to the people who live here, the people who visit here and,
most importantly, to our wildlife populations.”